It's a fair question. For the most part, people are aware transgressions are committed everyday for a variety of motivations. So, the "forthcoming panic" may be a bit hyperbolic, at least up to the point food becomes a scarcity. I was in the same place as this individual 25 years ago, except I wasn't making 11/hr, but half that as a college grad earning minimum wage. Certainly, a percentage of grads got starting salaries at 50k, but that was a small percentage and one must understand we are in a protracted recession that will require the resources and ingenuity of all to overcome.
The correct answer is both. Educate and prepare. I'm occasionally reminded of Peter's exhoratation to the people gathered in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost,
"And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." (Acts 2:40)
Ignorance is the enemy and the more educated people are, the better prepared they will be. The real question is, what is truth? And the answer in that regard, God has already told us, is his Word, the Word of Truth.
Everyone must have a frame of reference outside of themselves in order to learn. When your reference is the standard for truth, then your paths will be set straight. Certainly the paths of this world are not straight. Thankfully, we have the truth available to us, the truth which sets men free. The alternative is darkness and enslavement. Which will you choose?
"Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." (Romans 10:9-10).
Saved from what? Saved from the wrath that is to come (Romans 5:9; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:10). Whether the end times are upon us or not (Matthew 24:36), it should be readily apparant that there is much that is not right in the world, Thankfully, the truth is available, and we need not be decieved.
And, since you brought it up, Yves, if we continue down the stimulus path, the situation in Japan will be a precursor to our own, . Wasn't Geithner supposed to the the student of the Japanese recession, and Bernanke a student of the Depression? After global stimulus fails, and protectionist policies set in, it seems we'll have the worst of both worlds.
How bad will it have to get, before the dawn breaks on a new day? I'm reminded of the American national anthem, and the circumstances of Sir Frances Scott Key in penning the lyrics, because our freedom as individuals and as a nation are most certainly under attack. Although, the enemies of state aren't external, but of our own doing. Since the end of WWII, the national debt has grown in disproportion to the rate of inflation, and we're on the leading vertical edge of debt accumulation. This rate of spending cannot be sustained. The very fundementals of which the post war economy is based must be examined. Corporate American has routinely purged it's ranks of less producing members while the public sector has only gotten larger. Society cannot afford everything the Federal Government has promised, with tens of trillions of dollars in unfunded federal entitlements. Every budget hawk has known talk of reducing the deficit is meaningless without addressing entitlements, yet there has been no political will. Will the suffering of millions upon millions be enough to bring about a day of reckoning?
Public sector spending is crowding out private investment, investment that creates jobs. The longer it takes for the Federal Government to get spending under control, the longer it will be before our economy begins to recover, if ever.
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